1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus, a control method, and a storage medium.
2. Description of the Related Art
The present invention relates to a page layout technology for arranging a rendering object, such as a graphic, an image, a character string and the like, on a page.
As an example of conventional page layout technology, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2005-149218 discusses a technology for saving paper by arranging print data of a last page on the previous page.
In the present application, the term “page” refers to a limited area such as that of an A4 sheet of paper, and is the area in which an object is arranged. Further, the term “object” refers to a display element, such as a graphic, a character string, an image or a combination thereof, on a page which a user handles by operating software.
If a plurality of pages is a change target like above, the user determines whether to change the layout of a page while observing the plurality of pages which will serve as targets.
Thus, by executing layout processing while confirming the page, the user can avoid undesirable layout changes.
For example, an example will now be considered in which, in a two page display, the layout of those two pages is changed.
This example will be described with reference to FIGS. 2A and 2B. In FIG. 2A, a page 201 and a page 202 are set as layout change targets (indicated by the letters “selecting in progress”; hereinafter the same). An object 211 is arranged in the page 201, and an object 212 is arranged in the page 202. If the object 212 in the page 202 is moved to the page 201, the objects 211 and 212 are arranged in the page 201. Consequently, an arrangement position in the page 202 of an object 213 changes so as to fill a margin area produced by the movement of the object 212. However, since there is no margin area in the page 201 in which the object 213 can be arranged, the object 213 is not moved to the page 201. In this example, it is determined that the object 213 is not moved to the page 201 because there is no margin area in page 201 in which the object 213 can be arranged. However, movement can also be determined to be impossible if the margin amount in the page is less than a predetermined threshold (e.g., height sum of 50 mm).
The size of the margin area can be calculated as illustrated in FIGS. 14A and 14B, for example. For a page 1401 like that illustrated in FIG. 14A, the margin area is the shaded locations 1411 to 1418. More specifically, the area(s) horizontally across the page in which an object is not present is the margin area. Thus, the size of the margin area in the page is determined by determining the sum of the heights of these margin areas. The height of each area can be determined based on coordinate positions in the page.
In FIG. 2B, which is obtained by layout change processing, additional objects cannot be arranged in the page 201. Therefore, the user has to newly select two pages as the next layout change targets.
Depending on the result of layout change, the combination of target pages to be selected next is not limited to the latter page of the pages being selected (page 202 in FIGS. 2A and 2B) and the next page (page 203 in FIGS. 2A and 2B) as illustrated in FIGS. 2A and 2B.
If the layout change processing is executed on FIG. 5A for example, FIG. 5B is obtained. Since there is a margin area in page 501, page 501 can become a layout change target. However, since there are no objects whose layout is to be changed in page 502, page 502 does not become a layout change target.
Therefore, as illustrated in FIG. 5C, the user selects pages 501 and 503 as new layout change target pages. Therefore, the combination of the target pages which is to be selected next is not limited to the latter page of the pages being selected and the next page as illustrated in FIGS. 2A and 2B.
Thus, the user has to determine the arrangement state of the objects in the pages and constantly determine which pages can be combined for layout change. Further, after these determinations, the user has to select the pages to be a target by using software, which can lead to an increased operational burden.